Counterfeiting is as old as the human desire to create objects of value. For example, historians have identified counterfeit coins as old as the corresponding originals. Test cuts into the coins were likely the first counterfeit detection procedure—with an objective of testing the purity of the inner metal of the minted coin. Then, the appearance of counterfeit coins with pre-engraved fake test cuts initiated the cat-and-mouse game of counterfeiters versus original manufacturers that has lasted to the present day.
It is difficult to assess and quantify the magnitude of the market for counterfeit objects of value today. There is a burgeoning market in some counterfeit objects, such as credit cards. In one illicit method-of-operation, when a credit card number, name, and expiration date are known, fake credit cards are sometimes manufactured in one country, used to buy goods in another, and the goods returned to the first country. Further, with on-line marketing tools, selling counterfeit objects has never been easier. Besides counterfeiting within financial and economic sectors, other sectors under attack include the software, hardware, pharmaceutical, entertainment, and fashion industries. According to a 2000 study by International Planning & Research, software piracy resulted in the loss of 110,000 jobs in the U.S., nearly U.S. $1.6 billion in tax revenues, and U.S. $5.6 billion in wages. Similarly, according to pharmaceutical companies, over 10% of all medications sold worldwide are counterfeit. Consequently, there exists a demand for technologies that can resolve these problems by guaranteeing the authenticity of an object and by narrowing down the search for the origins of piracy.